1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an insert molded article in which a plurality of types of parts are used for specific insert parts, an insert molding method for manufacturing this insert molded article, and an insert molding apparatus used in this insert molding method.
2. Description of Related Art
Insert molding is known as a method for integrating a part with resin. In insert molding, a part is integrated with set resin by injecting molten resin around the part while the part is arranged inside of a forming die. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-297387 (JP 2005-297387 A) describes a case for an electronic control unit as an insert molded article.
Also, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-28029 (JP 2012-28029 A) describes technology for preventing wrong assembly in a lever-type connector. With the lever-type connector described in JP 2012-28029 A, a wrong-assembly preventing protrusion that prevents wrong assembly of a wire cover is provided on the wire cover. The wrong-assembly preventing protrusion abuts against an arm of a lever when the wire cover is assembled in the opposite direction from the assembly direction of the lever. Wrong assembly of the wire cover is able to be detected by the wrong-assembly preventing protrusion abutting against the arm of the lever.
There are cases in which a plurality of types of parts are used for specific insert parts in an insert molded article. In such cases, when the specific insert parts are assembled in a forming die, it is possible that, of the specific insert parts, one type of insert part may be wrongly assembled in a location where a different type of insert part is supposed to be assembled. However, with conventional insert molding technology, no thought has been given to how to detect wrong assembly when the type of insert part is wrong. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether a wrong part has been assembled or a correct part has been assembled, when there is only a small difference in appearance between different types of insert parts, for example.